Game Film Review: Clemson vs. Auburn

For those of you who are new to STS since last season, we evaluate the film each week after the game. The goal is to see who really played well and who didn't, and find out what the major problems were each game, and put it all at a reasonably understandable level to those who did not play football or have no type of X's and O's training. We want you to understand what the problem really is and why so you can be better informed. We also do it to discourage the perception amongst visceral people that "OMG since we won, everything is great and we'll be dominant this year".

I'm going to go pretty much drive by drive here until the 4th, offense and defense, not every play but most of them. See the end for the summarizing thoughts. I've used TNet videos where I think they do well, but they are sideline shots and don't show the plays develop. Please comment and ask questions on what you dont understand, these take a long time to do well. Our goal here is to look for good plays and bad technique. I may pull a few plays out to discuss the Clemson offense/defense, and if theres anything that you would like to see or have explained, just ask.

Note on my shorthand: IZ/OZ= Inside/Outside Zone; IV=Inverted Veer; Power= Power O; Counters we run are mostly Counter-H's. ZR=Zone read, though a ZR handoff is nothing but IZ.

The animated drive chart is at the end.

ESPN Play-By-Play

CU at 25 - First drive was exempted by ESPN because they felt the last minute of a decided Florida cluster was too important to miss. AE ran the ball 3 times for a 1st down, but the OL was whipped on the next 3 plays and Clemson punted. 1 sack allowed to Dee Ford, and a loss of 9 on a fumbled snap/recovery by Boyd killed the drive. 6 plays -2 yards 3:02.

AU at their 41 - McCalleb on zone for 5...Frazier loss of 2, botched play...Clemson sniffed out a screen in a 3-2-6 alignment and it was done before it started. Stephone actually could've jumped in and picked this off if he'd read it earlier.

CU at the 11 - Tunnel Screen to Nuk for 9...AE IZ for 4...Illegal shift penalty by Nuk negates a big catch by Martavis Bryant for 28. Nuk never got set...IZ no gain. Corey Lemonier raped Timothy to the inside. Note he started from a 6 tech, and Timothy did not get his hands up fast enough into his chest.

...Ford standing over the middle drops an easy pass...Offsides..Nuk flag route down the sidelines for 25. AE made a key chip...Howard IZ for 4...Nuk slips on a quick hitch/in for 7...Bucksweep to Howard for 11. C and RT pulled...PA pass to Nuk for 19...IZ right up the gut for 6...IZ for 1...Boyd drops back, and everyone is covered. Pulls it down and runs for 2 up the middle. 4th and Gl, Shatley flinches at the Auburn 1 yard line. Catman FG. 3-0 Clemson 13 plays 83 yards, 05:03

Very nice drive by Clemson. Good balance also. Two penalties were both big.

The bucksweep was altered from the usual 2-Guard pull to the C/RT pull. This is a tweak on the same play, which can be done either to show something different or due to the front the defense is playing. It was nice to see BOTH pullers BLOCK on the play for a change.

AU at 25 - Lutzenkirchen on a bootleg catch for 8. Toss to the flats to McCallebb for 11. Nice blocking by Auburn there on the underneath coverage...Christian misses a TFL on Mason, but is caught after 2 yd gain...54 yd pass to Emory Blake, TD. 7-3 Auburn.4 plays 75 yards, 01:44

They had only two receivers to one side, we were in Under front. Look closely at the formation and count the defenders according to where they're lined up. Brewer and Breeland are both to the strong side, where we are defining the strong side as being the TE side (sometimes it can be to the passing strength instead). We have one more DB aligned here to the strong side than there should be. Remember, Christian pulls out to the flat with a RB and the MLB would go with the TE. Breeland looks like he is supposed to have deep 1/2 coverage, and cheats up (peeks) because of their formation. Who is Brewer there for? We had called what looked like 1/4, 1/4, 1/2 (3 Over Cloud) to me. Someone is meant to be in the very middle, Robinson is playing the out&up with outside leverage. He thinks he's supposed to have help inside. If it was C3, Robinson still should've stuck with his man, which means he just lost the receiver. If #1 goes vertical, you go with him. However, in true 3-deep he would also have help in the middle.

We are not lined up correctly, and I believe there should be a safety deep here. Breeland should've been deeper to help on the In route from depth, and you can see Brewer and he are basically covering the same space as they drop back. That should never happen.

CU at 25 - Bootleg to Ford for 11...PA screen pass to the flat to Humphries for 3...Direct snap to AE IZ for 5...QB Power for 4...Boyd sacked. Timothy was beaten on the inside, and Boyd stepped into Lemonier, who ripped his helmet off...IZ for 15, Andre broke 4 or 5 tackles...Tajh overthrows Jaron Brown...Boyd pressured, steps up and runs for 11, lost the ball and his helmet again. Auburn's #11 ripped it off again after he was already down. Call overturned....IZ for 2...Substitution penalty, 12 men on the field...Boyd flushed from the pocket, and short-armed a pass to a wide open receiver. Nearly picked off...Blitz, Darren Bates sacks Boyd, he was barely touched up the A-gap. End 1st QTR Punt. 11 plays 36 yards, 03:38

Sack occured because they had two guys up showing blitz between the two DTs. One was head-on Freeman, another standing beside him in the A-gap. The one on Freeman pulled back and Bates kept coming. This is Freeman's man to pick up. Shatley was engaged with his man, as was Timothy. RB does not pick up a guy right up the very middle.

One sack on Timothy, another on Freeman, and a substitution penalty.

Breeland does a great job to ground the punt at the Auburn 1.

AU at the 1 - Mason Isolation for 10. This was strongside A/B-gap isolation against Under front, which is right at Anthony. Anthony got pushed out of the way flowing strong, and Willard ran right by the play as well. This is on Willard. Backside LB should never overpursue the Isolation....30 yards again on the Isolation, right at Willard. FB blocked him and the safety was not there to fill...Sweep for 6, Christian ran into the backfield right at a blocker, why?..Isolation again goes for yards, Anthony went too far to the flow, Willard went underneath and didnt get to the RB, but Watson stuck with him and stripped the ball loose. Willard recovered at the 48. 4 plays 52 yards, 01:43

Not a good drive for the LBs. Their uncovered linemen go straight to the 2nd level and drive us right out of the way.

CU from our 48 - Rollout PA Toss to Peake in the flat, deep throw was covered...Another checkdown over the middle to Ford for 7...Boyd flushed and gets 2...PA toss to Peake, again the deep throw was covered...Stop route to Ford for 8...Thomas false start...Bryant on a streak just didnt catch the ball. It was a little underthrown and he should not have had to stop or come back to it, but it was catchable...Power for 12, bounced outside. Nice block by Peake...Ford drops a hitch pass that wouldve been a first down. 40 yd FG Catman. 9 plays 29 yards. 3:01

We were pass happy on this drive. Only 1 called run play on the power G sweep to AE. Howard should've gotten a carry or two. Also, Nuk has disappeared.

AU at 25 - Isolation, again Willard got isolated and he got 13. He put his body into the FB instead of keeping that outside arm free.... Frazier scrambles on what looked like a bootleg, the receivers were covered, no gain...Frazier had Emory Blake M2M on Darius Robinson, just missed him....false start...Rashard Hall picks off a pass on the 15 on a Hail Mary. Frazier didn't see him, he was throwing to the deep crosser. 4 plays 8 yards 1:23.

CU at our 15 - Bucksweep killed by penetration, 2 yard gain for Hot Rod. #13 beat Freeman back inside. This was a C/RT pull...Bucksweep (two Guard pull) for Andre Ellington to the opposite side for 68 yards...IZ to Hot Rod, TD. 13-7 Clemson. 3 plays 85 yards, 01:17

Andre's flip over #5 was a gift back from the football gods for the play Hall couldnt make last winter.

Loved Beasley's block on the TD.

AU from 25 - Power for 7, we got strung out again. Christian dove hard inside and Breeland took a wrong angle. Bashaud should not have been blocked there, and not keeping the outside shoulder free...Christian home on the backside of a cutback Iso for 4...Power for 5 right up the A-gap...Sacked by Willard on a throwback screen. Crawford stayed home on the RB and we got the sack...Fly sweep for 8. Bad angles and edge control all around. Christian gets chewed out again by BV..offsides on Beasley...Blitz and Frazier finds Bray open on a crosser for 8...Isolation, Willard cut into the A and was all over it. Lost 2...Pass to uncovered Lutzenkirchen for 38...Isolation, Brewer was in the box and dove through the LOS to stop for a loss of 2...Frazier had Reed open on a deep crosser at the back of the endzone, but was out of bounds. Robinson and Meeks both not close enough to that...TO..Flare to McCalleb, Breeland decleats him...TO. 37 yd FG, 13-10 Clemson. 12 plays 55 yards, 06:02

On the big play, we had a CB zone blitz coming off the edge. The TE comes completely free up the seam. That should never happen, you always protect the seam. A TE kills it over the middle every time. He would've been touched by Willard, if there was no blitz called, but Tig is following the man outside to the flat, which is his responsibility. Brewer is backing up like Cover 3, look how wide he opens, but is looking at the guy on Tig coming into the flat zone, and not Lutzenkirchen. He thinks he has help inside.

Its not Shuey's man to pick up from where he's aligned pre-snap, but he's supposed to be getting depth and width here. If we weren't blitzing this probably would've been picked up.

I think its likely we were not properly adjusted to the formation they presented us. It seems like Meeks should be in the very middle, but he's dropping like C2. Another DB is deepening like C3 outside of him, so I think this one is on Meeks. He needs to be in the very middle, and sees the TE, but is out of position.

CU from 25 - Boyd hits Nuk on a WR screen for 2...Humphries on a quick out gets 14...Stop route to Nuk for 3...offsides..illegal shift clemson, too many guys moving at the snap. Negated a 30 yard catch by Hopkins..TO CU at :44...Screen to Nuk for 3...Nuk for 12...Spiked ball at :28...Sacked by Lemonier. Tajh should've gotten rid of that ball. We were going deep and it was covered...TO CU...Tajh pressured and scrambles for 8. We call TO to kick a 55 yarder. Benton missed. 8 plays 37 yards, 01:16

Sack was on Tajh there. Not going to blame the OL for this one. Illegal shift penalty and sack together killed the drive.

AU from 38 - Frazier chucks one deep incomplete. Crawford hit him as he threw.

Halftime

5 of 6 Clemson possessions in the 1st half were damaged by a mistake. Drops, fumbles, and penalties kept us from putting up big points. 6 penalties in the first half were more than we had in any game last year, excepting 6 we had in the whole WF, AU, and WV games.

Tajh lost 30 yards in sacks, two were his fault. Otherwise, Clemson sits at 147 yds rushing and 128 passing in the first half. Clemson ran 48 plays.

Auburn is playing a mix of Stack/OVER 4-3 and plenty of 4-2-5. They appear to be giving huge cushions and playing mostly Tampa Two and some C3.

Clemson is using G-fronts in 4-2-5 sets and in 4-3 when we walk the LB out. UNDER, which is the strongest run front, is in use when they run the I-formation. We have sparingly used M2M, but I'm not sure if that is because of busts that arent caught. You can see us going in motion with the receivers a few times though. Otherwise it appears to be mostly C2 and C3, a lot more C3 than we've run under Steele.

Why isn't Auburn running Frazier? He was pulled in last year in situations to run the zone read packages in the Malzahn system, and I'm not seeing it. Why not? I guess they think they dont need to, with the Iso eating us up, but Frazier isnt hitting his open receivers too well.

Isolation is killing us, and mainly backside LB is not staying home, and the MLB is not getting into the gap before the Guard nails him. Edge control is pretty bad because we have not figured out how to read a reach block key. Two big busts in coverage result in only 10 points, which is alright.

Start 3rd QTR

AU at 25 - Mason for 15 on an Iso cutback, Willard was in position on the backside but got cut...McCallebb on a pitch for 12, Crawford not staying home and Christian ran into a block...Iso stuffed for no gain...Subst. penalty...TO Auburn...McCalleb off-tackle, Christian missed a tackle, gets 8...TE open over the middle, Anthony tipped it away. Punt. 5 plays 30 yds.

Still gettin killed by the zone isolation. Note the problem we're having in the still images below. In the first you can see Clemson is playing Under front. Christian is off the TE, Anthony is over the B-gap, and Willard the weakside 30. They all start flowing to the playside.

When Willard, as the backside, sees flow away, he must be thinking "counter" or "cutback" first and foremost. He is the only man capable of stopping the cutback. Christian is playing outside like he should be. Anthony doesn't shoot the B-gap strongside quite like he should be.

You see that Willard overruns the play too much and ends up even with the RB's hips instead of on his backside hip, he gets cut blocked and the RB cuts it and gains 15.

This and what happened to Anthony is the basis of all our problems with the Isolation tonight.

CU at 16- ZR keep for 7...ZR handoff for 1...Jaron Brown Out/crossing pattern incomplete, Boyd threw that ball early because Lemonier was coming. He had another second. Punt 3 plays 8 yards, 01:09

We've tweaked the ZR play a little. The back shifts from Pistol into an alignment a yard inside the QB and to one side of him. Then it looks like a sweep handoff off-tackle.

AU at 40 - QB Power Read for 1...PA pass to TE was open on a Deep Cross, Frazier missed him...Blake came back to a pass, Brewer missed a tackle, and gives up 24 yards. We were in a loose C3...Iso for 3...Pitch, Crawford came free but got outleveraged, Christian wasn't there to help him either, he let that WR block him all the way to the sideline. Venables is chewing his ass out for it too....DeShawn Williams stuffs a quick-snap handoff. Loss of 1...46 yd FG. 13-13. 7 plays 32 yards 3:04

Christian is starting to piss me off now. It drives me crazy to see guys with the ability to be great who don't use it.

CU from 15 - Bryant screwed up on the return. counter for 13...Stop route to Nuk for 9...Ford up the seam for 22, nice throw...IZ for 8...Hot Rod IZ for 3..Boyd rolls out and throws high incomplete to Ford...Counter for no gain...Blitz, Boyd should be sacked, and hits Peake on the sideline for 9...4th &1, play clock ran down and we had to call TO..I formation, Isolation for 3 gets 1st down...IZ, Hot Rod hesitated and lost 1...Nuk dropped a ball that hit his numbers...Ford drops another inside the 10 on an In route. 37 yd FG Catman, 16-13 Clemson. 13 plays 66 yards, 03:59

Killed by the drops, otherwise great.

AU from 25 - PA pass, Tavaris Barnes missed a coverage sack, run for no gain...Blake gets up the seam for 14, Robinson is on this one...McCalleb gets around a free Crawford again for 20 on reverse. Rashard Hall took too wide an angle and got intercepted by TE...Frazier chucks one deep and Robinson never saw the ball, lucky he couldnt catch it....Mason on a OZ, Quan Bray cut Blanks in the alley and nets 10. Barnes got himself reached...Robert Smith gives a HUGE cushion to TE and he runs a flag route for 20...Frazier sees no one open and runs for no gain, nice tackle by Hall...Emory Blake drops a fade, Brewer NOT looking for the damn ball...Thrown away, should've been a false start. 27yd FG. 16-16, 10 plays 65 yards. 3:44.

Weak underneath coverage, and DBs are not looking for the damn ball.

CU at 15 - Bryant again, but tripped at the 15. Hitch to Peake for 7...Flare out to Nuk for 16...Boyd flushed and takes it for 2. Start 4th QTR...Sam Cooper goes in motion, runs a quick out, and was open for the 1st. Ball was thrown behind him and he couldnt get it. Daren Bates INT at the 35.

Thats on Cooper, but Tajh isn't blameless.

AU at 35 - OZ, bad angle by Brewer lets him get 9. We can't set the edge well, they completely sealed the backside pursuit...Another gets 14 up behind the RG in the B-gap, who took SA head-on. Bad position by Stephone. WRs blocked all our DBs well... Next OZ Iso gets 3...73 holds Josh Watson to the ground cuz he's beaten, 10 yards...Screen is batted down by Crawford after Willard tipped it. Its a good thing because Mason would've gone big yards. Crawford shouldve been back from there and able to pick up the RB, Willard was blitzing...TO AU..Deep shot to Coates, and we have this one well covered. 36 yd FG. 19-16 Auburn 6 plays 16 yards, 02:03

We have to have better DE and SAM LB play (in Under) to set the edge. This is a problem.

Very clutch to hold to a FG here.

CU from 25 - IZ for 4...ZR keeper for 27. DE didnt even look at Tajh...Stop route for 4 to Nuk. Auburn is playing way off here...Timothy is beaten off the edge again, Boyd steps for 1...Boyd pulls it and runs for 10, everyone looked covered except for the flare to the boundary, but there was pressure. We cut out the whole left side. Boyd takes himself out...ZR/IZ to AE for 3...Bucksweep for 8...Counter H for 9...Power O for 5 for DJ...TO CU, we would've had a subst. penalty if not called TO...Tajh audibles, Auburn is giving us 1 on 1 to the Fieldside. Perfect Fade to Nuk, TD. 23-19 Clemson. 10 plays 75 yards, 03:33

Went to the running game that had been working all day, and killed them with it. Auburn could not adjust their defense because of the pace we ran the entire drive.

Beasley looks good pulling. That is refreshing from our Guards. He comes through trying to hit people.

AU from 21 - zone Iso for 3, LBs cut under those blocks better...OZ, SA stops it for 3. Good penetration...Frazier had nowhere to go with it, and tucked it for 5. We dropped 8...End Around, Bray cuts back inside and loses 1. Bad choice. He needs to keep going outside...TO Clemson, Auburn came out in Gun trips and it did not look like we had the right package called, plus there were 12 on the field...Frazier locked on a guy and missed a TE wide open..TE sneaks across the middle for 5. Punt. 6 plays 15 yards 3:18

MUCH better defense here. We got off the blocks.

CU from 20 - Lead IZ for 2...Ford on a quick out for 3...Pressure flushes Boyd, he runs it for 7. NICE BLOCK by Brandon Ford. He just tossed that guy to the ground

...IZ for 3...Screen to Nuk for 6...Power O for 6...IZ for 48 yards, AE just made the first man miss and Nuk made a great block...DJ on Power O for 3...Illegal shift on a QB Isolation, gains 1 and AU declines. Gifford Timothy goes out...QB Power for 3, helmet comes off again. Auburn ripped it off. TO Auburn. Catman hits 18yd FG. 26-19 Clemson. 11 plays 79 yards, 04:35

If Tajh was in, from the 1, I'd have gone for it. I don't mind the kick though since they'd have to get a 2pt conversion to win.

Again, stick with the run and killing them with it and the pace. Their DEs are much slower now than in the 1st Q.

AU from 25 with 1:24 - Vic Beasley inside move on the OT and forced an early throw...Blake on a crosser for 17. M2M coverage...Goodman strips a ball but AU recovers...Blanks blitzes off tackle and Frazier throws it away...Vic Beasley pounces for the sack. 73 was holding him too...Frazier throws it deep to nobody. Game over.

They held the shit out of us on that drive.

Animated Drivechart

FULL SCREEN VERSION

Animated Drive Chart brought to you by Gameday Depot.

Summarizing Thoughts

- Clemson ran 87 plays, 5 less than last year's game vs. Auburn. The 87 was 13th nationally in the opening weekend.

- Aside from Giff's removal of one play, all starters up front played every snap. That needs to change the next two weeks if we are ever to build depth.

Most encouraging thing I see is the offensive line play. It was much better than any of us expected to see. I see guys staying engaged until the whistle and finishing their blocks. I see David Beasley doing things that we saw from him in his HS film: putting DTs on their asses. Dalton Freeman probably had one of his best days ever as a run blocker. Brandon Thomas looked pretty good at LT. Timothy even did better than I expected over the whole game against Lemonier and Dee Ford.

We really aren't pulling any more often than we did last year, but the execution was better. The buck was called a ton last year, but the Power was scaled back late in the season when no one could pull. Now I think we'll be calling more Power, and hopefully some Traps. The plays still look like zone blocking, but the steps have changed. Its more ahead and less lateral on the first step.

One of the things you don't notice off the bat is the way Clemson is using some cut blocks to slow the rush. Its not every play, and not even every drive, but there are a few of them and they're intentional. Thomas is cutting Lemonier's legs out every so often. We also use DF to cut on some bucksweeps.

I expected to see more tunnel screens and inside screens to slow Auburn's rush down, but there were not that many. I think a Draw would've eaten them alive, with the way they overpursued up front.

Auburn's DEs were very aggressive, almost too aggressive. They gassed themselves. They were speed-rush all the way and zipped deep into the backfield to force Boyd to step up. The only problem was that their DTs were getting mandhandled. Auburn's bad DT play was very surprising to me; they stunk. It wasn't all our OL.

The Auburn LBs stink worse, and the back 7 overall is as average as grits. They don't tackle well. They were certainly playing better coverage than last year though (which was atrocious). Their tampa 2 covered our deep routes well, helped by the speed rush of course, but the poor LB play is going to really damage them in SEC play.

I guess the only things that are disappointing are the number of carries for the backup RBs, given that we were pushing them around, and the play of guys like Charone Peake, Jaron, and Bryant. I really thought one of them would step up with Sammy out, but it was all Nuk on constraint plays and hitches to the boundary, with Ford up the seams.

Tajh probably had the best performance of his career. It was complete. He made really just the one poor decision throwing. Very accurate overall. Always seemed in command of himself. The INT was on Cooper, because he could've caught it, but Tajh did throw a step too far behind him.

Defense

One thing folks may not realize is that Steele would've played the same defensive fronts when Auburn went to pro personnel. He was an Under front guy. The difference is that while Steele would've played more C1, BV plays more C3. We have not completely abandoned C1 in this front though, because Under is a pressure front, and pressure goes with M2M. C1 and C3 always go together, because you can disguise them easily together. The trick is to watch the first backpedal steps of the Corners, and their leverage.

Our defensive ends were shockingly weak. Auburn started a RS Freshman and a another true frosh. Malliciah Goodman lost weight and still does nothing. Both he and Crawford and Christian all allow themselves to get reach blocked. Crawford actually seems slower, hopefully its mental. Christian is getting chewed for playing around with his blocker instead of getting off him.

Need to see more to tell if Watson/Williams/Jarrett are going to be very good, but Jarrett does play with a full motor and he plays very low. Williams was tough for them to move.

LB play was weak to start, but got better. Anthony got better and more confident as the game went on. Willard did as well, but both need to work on reading those Guards and getting into the gap quicker, and using the correct shoulder to beat the blocker.

Quandon Christian, put up or shut up. Get your shit together or get off the field. You have the ability to be great, and don't use it. Some scrawny WR should not be able to seal you.

I think a lot of our coverage problems were simply not adjusting correctly to the formation and not communicating with each other well pre-snap. However, Robinson needs to tighten up his coverage, and Brewer needs to focus on his key a little better. There is no excuse for losing the ball in the air.

Kiehl Frazier just wings it when under pressure. He's not actually reading the coverages, which have plenty of holes for him to hit. You can see he has the arm strength and can move, so he's got talent, but he needs a lot more snaps.

I still think, after review, that the actual tackling was fine. Once we got to them, we got the man down. Its our angles that need work, especially from the DBs.

- Clemson is 14-0 under Dabo Swinney in Orange & white, maybe this whole uniform tradition thing we keep complaining about means something after all.

- We were 0-for-6 in the last six trips to Atlanta.

Chad Morris postgame:

On the last drive:

"The last two drives, to be exact. We just felt it. Give them credit. They catch a tip ball interception. It should have been caught. We were stopping ourselves. We were doing that all game long. The only person that was stopping us was us. Dropped balls. Jumping off sides. Having a big play down the sidelines and didn't have a receiver lined up. We're at such a faster pace now. We snapped the ball 91 times tonight. It comes with experience, too. When you have a veteran quarterback and a veteran tailback and an offensive line that's growing up ... you put the ball in their hands and ..."

Andre Ellington's production:

"This is the first time you've seen Andre healthy. Andre is healthy now for the first time in two years. I think you see that. There is no doubt in my mind who the best player under this roof was. Without a doubt, he was on a mission. He was relentless. We talked about that, being relentless in everything he did. Andre was talking to me on the sidelines saying, 'Coach, keep giving it to me, keep giving it to me.' There was no doubt in my mind that on the last two drives who we wanted touching the ball and that was #10, #23 and #6. What a great way to start. But that's all this is, just a start. It's a great start, though. There are a lot of big football games ahead. We've got to get better. There are a lot of things we can get better at. Too many drops. Unacceptable."

Tajh's mobility after the off-season weight loss.

"I think you see a leaner Tajh, absolutely. In order for us to have the kind of success we want to have, Tajh has to be a threat running the ball. Period. And he was tonight. And you saw that tonight. That's a career high rushing for him tonight. That's a credit to Tajh."

Any one person in particular stand out to you on the o-line?

"Of course Dalton Freeman who helped direct traffic. Brandon Thomas is another veteran. But those other guys, David Beasley was one. We snapped it 91 times. We felt like we had them in the first quarter. We felt they were gassed. Our guys were coming back to the sidelines telling us, 'Coach, we've got to keep pressing them.'"

Venables
Where was the breakdown on the long touchdown pass in the first half?

"I'll have to go back and see. I think we just lost the receiver. He turned around. It was almost a triple move. We got turned around and he ran away from the leverage. Our post player wasn't anywhere around."

How long did it take you to get a feel for what they were going to do?

"Halftime, we changed some things, based on what they were doing. What we were doing obviously was not working. In the second half, we did some things to throw them off balance. Fortunately it worked. They popped some runs on us. But we'll get better. Our guys, they owned it. They'll have to take responsibility for it and they will."